16 May, 2014
On Thursday May 15th, it was a matchup to remember between Bellingham and Hopkinton Softball.
Megan Cook won her 11th game for Bellingham improving the Blackhawks to 15-0 on the season but was heavily contested by Allissa Karjel who went 7+ scoreless innings with 7 strikeouts. Juliet Hulme relieved Karjel after a single by pinch hitter Kayse Baker in the 8th, and the games only run would end up coming off the bat of Julianne Kilduff who sacrificed to bring Baker across.
It was a terrific pitching matchup between Megan Cook for Bellingham who entered the game 10-0 with an astonishing 0.22 ERA in 63 innings of work, and Allissa Karjel for Hopkinton who was 10-2 on the season with an amazing 0.68 ERA in 82 innings of work. The game was every bit of what was to be expected when you have two of the best pitchers in the state matching up.
The head coach of Bellingham Dennis Baker S.R. and his son Dennis Baker J.R. who is the head coach of Hopkinton emphasized how the matchups between the two teams are always very competitive and tough to prepare for. "It's a long day, it's a long night, it was bad this year, it was bad last year" said Dennis Baker S.R.
Dennis Baker J.R. perfectly describes the rivalry with his fathers Blackhawks; "We knew this was going to be a 1 run game coming in and we knew the team that made the first mistake was going to lose."
14-3 Hopkinton and 15-0 Bellingham will both be playing in the post season this year. Hopkinton will be competing in the Central Division 1 bracket, while Bellingham will compete out of the Central Division 2 bracket, but before the playoffs both teams have a few games left including, another matchup with eachother in Bellingham on May 20th.
